


If you tell me how the song goes (I'll make sure they play it for you)

by megyal



Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-02
Updated: 2009-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-14 21:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/519911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megyal/pseuds/megyal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>AU, in which neither Infinity on High nor Folie à deux exist. Or maybe they do! I dunno.</p><p>Birthday ficlet for <span class="ljuser i-ljuser"></span><a href="http://pushkin666.livejournal.com/profile"><img class="i-ljuser-userhead"/></a><a class="i-ljuser-username" href="http://pushkin666.livejournal.com/"></a><b>pushkin666</b><br/></p>
    </blockquote>





	If you tell me how the song goes (I'll make sure they play it for you)

**Author's Note:**

> AU, in which neither Infinity on High nor Folie à deux exist. Or maybe they do! I dunno.
> 
> Birthday ficlet for [](http://pushkin666.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://pushkin666.livejournal.com/)**pushkin666**  
> 

-Excerpt from the Chicago Tribune, November 16, 2008: _The Fall of the House of Emo: Where are they now?_ by Andrea Martinez.  


> _...and when questioned about the implosion of the band, Patrick Stump is notoriously tight-lipped. "Pete and I had a lot of differences," he offers, and changes the subject with surprising dexterity._
> 
> Pete Wentz, on the other hand, is garrulous about the break-up. "It just had to happen, I guess. S*** like that happens in bands that have too much genius in them, you know? Sometimes you get too close to someone, and you see everything about them, good and bad. It just breaks your mind a little, that this amazing person can be such a huge d*** at times. And I'm not even talking about anyone else, this is all me. Not the amazing part, I'm a s***head."
> 
> "I'm happy," Andy Hurley says through a phone call. "I'm drumming for Little World, getting the message I want out there, something I couldn't do with Fall Out Boy, not necessarily. This is important, the whole world is dying on our hands, and we need to do something, we need to do it now and the government isn't helping at all. In any case, Little World is totally awesome, I love it, but there was something about that band, about FOB. It was like standing next to one of those transformers. You know the big ones? Your hair on end, that kind of thing."
> 
> Joseph Trohman also asserts his current happiness. "But sometimes I think it's really quiet," he says with a laugh, when we meet him at the public library with his small twin sons, who are being shushed constantly by the librarians. "After being on the road for a long time, playing for crowds of people, that life is like a dream. Pretty vivid s***."
> 
> "I think I'd give a lot to play with FOB again," Patrick Stump says with a wistful smile as he tunes one of his many signature guitars. "Before... before I die, I guess."

  
*

"Tell me something," Pete said tersely to Andy when he finally picked up his phone. "Is Patrick dying?"

"What?" Andy considered this and Pete could almost picture his wrinkled brow. "Well, aren't we all?"

"Oh for crying out loud," Pete complained, and glared half-heartedly at his assistant when she came towards him holding out his other phone. She rolled her eyes and spoke into it, apparently getting a message from the caller. "Can't I call you one time without all the mystic bullshit?"

"Shut the fuck up." Andy sounded fond. "I'm just pointing out a fact, get over yourself. Why are you asking me that, anyway?"

"The article, in the Tribune."

Joe had sent him a copy of that issue and he had been shocked at how Patrick looked: kind of gaunt and frail. He was _dying_ , Pete was sure of it, and probably being all fucking noble and shit... and Patrick wanted to play with them again, before he died.

Jeez. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for Patrick, even though they hadn't spoken to each other in years.

"I don't think Patrick is dying." Andy sounded suspiciously doubtful and Pete didn't believe a word he said. "I mean, not in any quick way, that is."

""I need to make a few calls," Pete said with that particular firm decisive manner he'd developed, because once he made up his mind to move a mountain, watch out Mount Everest. "Let's... let's get this rolling."

 

*

-Excerpt from RockingHouse (YOUR GREAT SOURCE FOR ROCKING YOUR HOUSE), March 16, 2009: _Interview with J. Trohman._

>   
> _**Rocking House:** So it's just a rumor, then. I mean, the whole scene is pretty excited over the prospect of something like this.  
>  **Joe Trohman:** Well, it's a rumor for now.  
>  **RH:** Wow, man, keep us on tenterhooks here!  
>  **JT:** (laughs) Yeah, we're evil like that. Thing is, this is kind of an organizational nightmare, you know? (Drummer) Andy Hurley has Little World, and he tours pretty extensively with them. The rest of us have businesses and jobs, not to mention my boys, so to just pick up and do FOB, it's like planning a war or something.  
>  **RH:** But not impossible.  
>  **JT:** I like the word 'unpossible' better, my boys say that all the time. And if it's one thing I've learned from my kids, when you want something bad enough, _ not _getting it is totally unpossible._  
> 

  
*

Pete opened the folder in his My Documents labeled IHOPEYOUDONTMIND. He stared at the legion of Notepad documents, knowing that each of them contained a snapshot of a moment in his life, where he had sat and typed, letting his mind wander through his thoughts.

He picked one at random, and emailed it to Patrick. He hoped Patrick still used the same email address; at the same time, he hoped that the email would bounce back or something. This was like opening a door he thought he'd nailed shut bitterly, knowing that he'd never have his words bloom again, the way they'd flourished under Patrick's care.

The email didn't bounce. Two weeks later, when he had almost convinced himself that it didn't really hurt that much to not get a response, he opened his email to see a reply from Patrick, with an attachment to an audio file.

He closed his eyes and exhaled. Then, without even really thinking about what he was doing, he sent a quick message: _don't die on me before i get the chance to make it happen for you, for me, for us._

Patrick's response was just as quick and just as short: _Pete, I promise you I won't._

 

*

-Excerpt from People Magazine, May 10, 2010: _We Love You Back, Fall Out Boy_ , by London O'Reilly (pictures by S. Scott).

>   
> _...and after meeting them backstage, it's not hard to see why their fanbase is still quite large and dedicated. They're relaxed and quiet, a far cry from a band that spins and sings and beats their hearts out every night on the This is Our Life Tour. Their inside jokes are refreshing, as is their surprising courtesy._
> 
> Pete Wentz appears very different from his usual sharp attire of business suits. In fact, he looks years younger in jeans and t-shirts, and plays with Davie and Luke Trohman all throughout the interview.
> 
> "It's been crazy having them along," their father Joe Trohman says wryly. "Tiring. But they're having fun. That's the important part."
> 
> "Basically, this tour started because Pete thought I was dying." Patrick Stump says; both he and Andrew Hurley stifle laughter. "I don't know where he managed to get that idea from. Honestly."
> 
> Circling the successful tour are also whispers about a developing romantic relationship between the lead singer and the lyricist of the group, but any questions are met with innocent smiles. It's very hard, however, to miss the way Wentz touches Stump's arm constantly.
> 
> Wentz tries to explain a little later, just before they board one of the buses to head to another locale (the band has two, one for Patrick, Pete and Andy, the other for the Trohman family): "I guess, sometimes it's hard being with someone because you can love them too much. You get up in their brains, they get up in yours, and it all goes crazy, you need time to grow up.
> 
> "You think you've destroyed something because you were stupid, and sometimes. Sometimes you're lucky enough that you just cut down the tree, and left the roots, you know? Things grow back. Good things grow back better."  
> 

  
fin 


End file.
